For a small mountain town in Washington state, there seems to be a lot of crime going on in Alpine! But such is life in a cozy mystery setting, and over this series' literary course of 16 years (or 28 years in real-time), crime will happen, even in a small town. As a long-time reader of this series, I love revisiting Alpine, with Emma and Milo and Vida in each story, and some of the "newer" characters like Leo and Mitch. There are a few interesting things happening in town: the death of a California woman with possible connections to Alpine, an older couple outside of town who keep hearing prowlers, a prison escapee, and a couple new Alpiners. We also see less of Vida, who seems ready to retire for good. Because this is the 28th book in the series, there are a lot of characters and townsfolk, but when someone from a past book is mentioned, there's usually an explanation that doesn't contain spoilers for previous books. I had a hard time putting this book down, because I just had to know what was going to happen next. I think anyone new to this series could read this book without knowing the backstory, but isn't it more fun to start from the beginning and enjoy the characters' changes and growth?

I received an advance copy of this book. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

I'm not sure how I missed this series, but I am glad to have found it now (and as there is a recap at various points you are not left sidelined for information!)

Emma and Milo are hoping for a peaceful start to the year, but nothing is that straight forward when a young woman is found strangled at a motel, no one seems to know who she really is and why she has come to Alpine, so not only Milo is looking into things, but Emma and her staff at the newspaper are as well, whilst that is the thread running through the book there are other problems that crop up which keeps the reader's interest, some of them do refer to happenings in previous books, hence wanting to read them - although these do not detract from the current story in any way.

Many years ago I had the pleasant task of keeping my elderly mother supplied with cozy mysteries, which we often read and shared. One such was the Alpine Advocate series featuring Emma Lord, publisher of a weekly newspaper in the small town of Alpine, Washington. They were so interesting that even my husband and daughter got into reading the series along with us.

Those books followed an A-Z pattern in the choice of their titles so we were sure that when Miss Daheim hit the letter Z, the series would be over. But no, she has resumed the series as 'Emma Lord Returns' and has started the alphabet titles over again.

Bitter Alpine is the second book in this new series and is set in January of 2007; Emma and Sheriff Milo Dodge, who are in their 50s, have been married for almost a year. Dodge is called out one evening to investigate the strangulation death of a young woman from Oakland, CA, who was staying at a local motel. No one seems to know why she was in Alpine. Emma, of course, always has to stick her nose in any case to get the news for her paper and as usual, she is fighting a deadline.

There have been some changes in her office staff: Vida, her long-time Home and Garden editor, wants to retire and it looks like the wife of Leo, the advertising man, will try to replace the formidable icon.

Emma's son Adam, a priest, announces he is being transferred to Gaylord, Michigan, from a remote Alaskan village. (Note to both publisher and author: Gaylord is NOT in the upper peninsula of Michigan; it's in the upper part of the lower portion of the state.) In the storyline, Emma does a lot of reminiscing to catch new readers up on past history and I have to say my hackles rose when she refers to her son as 'illegitimate.' I thought we had moved beyond that kind of terminology. If any one is illegitimate, it's the parents, not the child!

Newly-wed Emma seems to have fallen into the stereotype of a married woman, rather surprising for someone who has lived most of her adult life on her own and has been a modern and independent business woman: she is always the one to do the grocery shopping and cooking and Milo demands his drink and dinner as he walks in the door--and 9 times out of 10, it's steak and potatoes. He of course controls the tv remote and they watch a lot of sports every evening with frequent romantic bedroom breaks. And even knowing that Emma is once again trying to quit smoking, Milo has an evening cigarette in front of the tv. These are all personal gripes on my part, but are still things I noticed.

The focus of these mysteries has always been small town dynamics--how most everyone knows their neighbor's business. Vida for instance is related to most everyone in town and can gossip with the best of them in her Scene Around Town column, but don't you dare criticize her ne'er-do-well grandson who is serving time in prison for drug-dealing. It's a good thing a new community college and business start-ups have brought an influx of new people to the Alpine area or all the townspeople would have been murdered off by now in these books, lol.

I received an arc of this new cozy mystery from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks for a fun read!

I think it is funny that after reading all the books in this series, the things that start sticking out to me. Emma is always the one to cook dinner. And most of the time they are eating steak. Between that and the hamburgers they frequently eat for lunch, I worry that the next book in the series might be Coronary Alpine. But the book is set in 2007 so maybe her and Dodge get more health conscious later? I doubt it! Another thought regarding the book being set in 2007, as is stated before the story begins, is that the Seahawks did not get to the SuperBowl that year (obviously not a spoiler). They did in 2005, 2013, and 2014. Apparently Ms. Daheim's sources weren't credible. The other thing I noticed was the excessive amount of foreshadowing in the book. This seems to also be new or maybe I am just more likely to notice. It wasn't overbearing, but caught my eye a few times. However, after having recently read a few less than stellar books, it is always nice to come back to a well loved cozy series with people and places that are familiar, though continued reminders of events and characters got a bit excessive. Maybe that is the upside and downside to a long running series? The author needs to find the balance between letting new readers know back story without alienating those who already read that book. But overall, similar to all that steak and potatoes, this series is comfort food.

I'm one of those who didn't read the Emma Lord series the first time but who enjoyed the first Emma Lord returns because Daheim knows her cozys. This second installment is no different. Emma, the editor and publisher of the local paper, is married to Milo, the sheriff. When a woman is found murdered in a local motel, Emma, along with Alison, who works for her at the paper, begin to poke around in her background but then Emma's friend Vida has some problems and well...This is one of those it takes a village cozies, with interesting characters. If the mystery isn't that compelling, well, that's ok because it's a good read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Here's hoping long time fans enjoy this too !

I Love this series :) This "chapter" in Alpine has a lot going on...A stranger comes to town, checks in the (sketchy) motel, and is found murdered. Patti is battered one times too many, lands n the hospital and finally is moved to press charges. A resident from "way back" returns to town with his wife and Vida faints when she learns of this. Vida also claims to be retiring from her long standing radio show. And Emma's son Adam is reassigned from his long held position in his Alaskan priestly duties to northern Michigan. Almost everything is tied up neatly by the end of the book but we are left wondering about Vida and I'm looking forward to learning more about Adam's move. Its always good to go back and visit Alpine :)

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Alibi, in return for an honest review. While not the first in this long-running series, it can be read as a stand-alone book. Emma Lord owns the small-town newspaper in Alpine, Washington. Recently married to the town Sheriff, Milo Dodge, they are learning to adjust when each one’s work runs into the other’s. The discovery of a young woman’s body in a run-down motel room is of interest to them both as they each use their resources to solve the mystery. Several sub-plots develop with long-term characters, as well as newcomers to the town. Being new to the series, I found the book good but not great. I liked the two main characters, Emma and Milo. I found some of the others to be not particularly interesting or sympathetic. It will be interesting to see what develops in the next in this series.

Emma Lord, owner of Alpine, Washington's local newspaper is enjoying wedded bliss with Sheriff Milo Dodge. They are both interested when a young woman is found dead in a seedy motel room. Emma wants to learn more, but is distracted when her longtime friend Vida undergoes a crisis. Could Vida's problems be connected to another mystery - an older couple living under assumed names in a cabin that was previously owned by a murder victim? Emma intends to find out.

This series went through A to Z and then started over again in the "Emma Lord Returns" series. This is the second book in that revived series. The last one was excellent and breathed new life into the long-running series. This book has a lot of strong points, but is lacking the depth that the best books in this series have. Emma and Milo still joke with each other in their usual sarcastic way with their love for each other shining through the teasing. I like it best when they work together to try to get to the bottom of their cases. Some of the side characters, such as Emma's reporter Mitch, become annoying after a while. However, I really like the new addition of Leo's wife, Liza. She is new to town and has a fresh outlook on the town and the stories the newspaper covers. I hope she continues to play a large role in future books.

The plot is interesting, but the usually sharp Emma seems to miss obvious clues and it takes a while for all the various subplots to come together. Just when things start getting good and the main mystery is solved, the book ends somewhat abruptly. Although some things are resolved, there are still loose ends that aren't tied up when the story is over. I don't know if this is setting things up for more reveals in the next book, or if a few questions will remain unanswered. I loved being able to spend more time with Milo and Emma in Alpine but was disappointed in the overall book, and I would rate it 3.5 stars.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Alibi. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Super excited to see this series continuing....

The actual murder solving was a tad bit weak in this one, but it was great to see what was going on with everyone's lives and see favorite characters meet some new ones. I'm wishing Vida a speedy recovery and keeping my fingers crossed that Allison finally nabs a man!

Better Alpine is an entertaining cozy mystery. A well written plot and a cast of quirky characters makes this a book not to miss. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

This is the sort of book that makes for a lovely, lazy day of reading. The story is good, it's exciting, but not too exciting to be a relaxing book.

I was....unimpressed with the latest entry to the series; it was fine, but dull. There wasn’t really any “action”, just a series of events narrated to us and I found myself constantly wondering when something would happen. By chapter 16, I had given up a. Just powered through to finish the book.

If you are new to Alpine Washington this cozy provides a synopsis of the original Alpine A-Z series and the first book in the A-Z Alpine series, all featuring Emma Lord.
If you;re already an Alpine fan the gentle reminders of Emma Lord's adventures as the small town weekly newspaper owner bring back many memories of the Alpine Advocate staff and towns people.

It's 2007 and Emma & Milo are newlyweds after sixteen years of an on-again off-again relationship. Keeping things cozy among the rain and snow of the tiny ski resort town still provides plot twists and character development. A visit with old friends.

This is my one of my all time favourite series and it was a wonderful return.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

We always buy Mary Daheim for our library. We own every book in the series and she's one of our go to mystery authors for readers' advisory.

This is the first book by this author that I have read. I enjoyed the setting and the characters. The mystery itself was okay but I felt at times the author didn't need to describe as much as she did. In spots it was a little long winded for me. Overall I enjoyed it and would read more in the series.

I absolutely love love love this series! I feel as though I have gotten to know Emma and Milo over the years and really enjoy catching up with them. I was happy to see the author carry on beyond the original alphabet series. I am looking forward to many more and highly recommend this to anyone who has not read the series...the perfect distraction! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

This was an overall enjoyable cozy mystery! Most importantly for me when I read a cozy is that I liked the characters and we got a good feel of the local area. The mystery was good, but I also thought there were some almost unnecessary details that just cluttered it up a bit. That being said, writing style and overall "readability" is important to me, and this flowed nicely. I'll check out more books by this author.

Overall a nice cozy mystery of Emma, the owner of the local newspaper and Milo, her husband and the town's sheriff. First I've read by this author, and expect this is part of a series, as I felt a bit lost at times. A good mix of characters though, and enjoyed the twists and turns. Would recommend this book, but suggest looking at the beginning of the series first.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I'm not sure there will be a second.

The storyline was a bit lackluster and the author long winded. While I feel there was a lot of unnecessary content, it seems that the author may be catering to her long time readers of her first Emma Lord series. Perhaps I would have been better served having read the first series, though I often read a book later in a series and never feel disconnected. This just isn't the author and series for me.